The great “Bottles for Babies” program supported by so many pro-life groups and Knights of Columbus councils across the United States raises money to help new mothers in need, mostly when churchgoers bring home bottles distributed at church and return them filled with cash.
It’s a successful fundraiser for a worthwhile cause, Birthright of Delaware in Wilmington.
Two sisters who are altar servers at St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Wilmington helped take it to another level.
Eliana Manzanillo, 12, learned about the fundraiser at church and asked her mom, Jessica, if it would be possible for her and sister Analeigh, 10, to do something that would raise more than the piggy-bank change most people use to fill the jars.
The idea was to do a bake sale at the parish and sell yummy goods after Masses at St. Thomas the weekend of Oct. 21-22. Eliana enlisted the help of more-than-willing grandmom Lucy Bowers, a veteran baker, and Analeigh used her creative skills to work on promotional and marketing materials.
By the time bake sale day arrived the girls were stocked with brownies, chocolate chip and sugar cookies, coconut cake and more.
Between sales after the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Masses, the girls hauled in enough for a $308 donation.
The girls serve Masses together at St. Thomas, also the childhood parish of Jessica, who said the idea quickly gained the support of pastor Msgr. Steven P. Hurley.
“He was excited about it,” said Jessica, who attended the former parish school at St. Thomas as a youngster. She said her husband, Mathius, was an altar server at his parish as a kid.
“It’s just a wonderful community and we want to show our girls how to be compassionate people and that service is important.”
